Rob & Bill Condon talk to LA Times about Breaking Dawn- The final chapter in the Twilight Saga

Public speaking has never been Robert Pattinson’s favorite part of his job. But presenting the Golden Globe to director Susanne Bier for her drama “In a Better World” Sunday night proved to be a welcome respite for the actor, who’s knee deep in the middle of filming “Breaking Dawn,” the final installment of the “Twilight” saga, which will be split into two parts.

“It’s been really hard shooting both films at the same time,” admitted the 24-year-old star, moments before he had run backstage to present his award with “Tron” star Olivia Wilde. “But it’s the end of an era.”

That era certainly will be one that Summit Entertainment, the films’ distributor, not to mention the franchise’s devoted fans, will be sorry to see go. Starting with 2008’s “Twilight,” the fantasy romance that first saw Pattinson’s handsome, brooding vampire encounter his mortal love, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), the movie series has taken in roughly $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office, as audiences lined up to see Swan wrestle with her feelings for her immortal boyfriend and her best friend, Jacob (Taylor Lautner), a werewolf, over the course of the next two films, 2009's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" and 2010's "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

At the start of the first part of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn,” Bella consents to Edward’s marriage proposal — Edward’s condition if he is to grant Bella’s request that he transform her into a vampire — and the young couple are wed before heading to a remote island getaway for a honeymoon.

Speaking by phone this month, director Bill Condon, who’s helming both installments of the finale, said he has been thrilled with what he’s seen from his leads. “All the characters are moving [in this chapter]," he said. "It’s really about the passage from adolescence to adulthood, and they all seem energized by that. It’s the stuff they are all connecting to in their lives.”

As for Pattinson specifically, Condon added, “Now he’s dealing with a character who’s like him. The final movie allows us to step behind the curtain of what it’s like to be a vampire. It doesn’t seem that exotic anymore; It’s trying to be more real.”

The director, though, was reticent to share any details of the production, which is filming in both New Orleans and Vancouver, Canada, with a jaunt to an island off the coast of Brazil — a location that might in the end prove the most memorable to Condon, because the entire cast and crew needed for the honeymoon scene was stranded after a long day of filming.

“It was incredible. We got caught in the middle of this huge rainstorm — I’ll remember it forever,” Condon said. “Eighty people sleeping on the floor of the set. We couldn't leave.”